Ink adhesion for wire and cable jacket marking

Creating indelible markings on wires and cables for military, aerospace, automotive, telecom and datacom applications can be a challenge for many manufacturers. Certainly highly aggressive solvent inks can be used to mark wire and cable, however there is a growing interest to develop greener technologies that can provide additional economic and production benefits.

Many companies have begun using aquesous and UV ink jet processes to mark a wide range of wire and cable jacket materials such as XLPE, PTFE, FEP, PEEK and more. The key to enabling and ensuring adhesion in these applications is through the use of atmospheric plasma surface pretreatment.

Plasma treatment cleans, etches and functionalizes surfaces to increase their surface energy and receptiveness to bonding. By using a plasma treater wire and cable marking operations can become greener, more economic and more productive.